Ben Mezrich’s Woolly Mammoth Book Being Adapted Into Movie by Fox

Fox and Temple Hill are developing a movie based on Ben Mezrich’s upcoming book “Woolly: The True Story of the De-Extinction of One of History’s Most Iconic Creatures.”

The studio and the production company have acquired movie rights to Mezrich’s book, set to be published in the fall of next year by Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books. The story follows a geneticist and a team of scientists attempting to bring back the woolly mammoth from extinction.

Geneticist George Church’s lab at Harvard University successfully copied genes from frozen woolly mammoths last year and added them into the genome of an Asian elephant. It was the first time that woolly mammoth genes have been functional since the species went extinct about 4,000 years ago.

Mezrich’s book “The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal” served as the basis for the 2010 film “The Social Network.” His book “Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions” was adapted into “21.”

Fox-based Temple Hill is headed by partners Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey. The duo are in production on “Maze Runner: The Death Cure” and are working with David E. Kelley on an adaptation of Stephen King’s bestseller “Mr. Mercedes” for a TV series.